Infiltration bid foiled on LoC

The army has foiled yet another infiltration attempt by militants on the Line of Control (LoC) in the Keran sector in Kupwara.

According to an army statement, a group of infiltrators was challenged after the army received specific information about some movement. "Based on specific inputs from intelligence agencies on likelihood of infiltration from the Keran sector, the alert troops of the frontline Vajr Division of north Kashmir detected the movement of a group of terrorists around 250 metre ahead of the fence and 1.5 km on the Indian side of LoC," a defence spokesman said.

On being challenged, the terrorists opened indiscriminate fire and the army retaliated to it. "The exchange of fire continued till early Sunday morning. As of now, the search operations are on in the area," he added.

An army official, however, told Hindustan Times that there is a likelihood of some casualty on the militants' side. "We have recorded the movement of militants and it seems they have got casualties, though we haven't recovered any bodies as the terrain is tough and even the weather is not good," the official said.

According to army, this is second infiltration attempt in past one week from the same area by the militants. "Last week, two terrorists were eliminated in the same area," the defence spokesman said.

According to army, the continued attempts are "indicative of the desperation of various terrorist tanzeems to infiltrate in the Valley".

Army had claimed to have killed 28 militants on the LoC and in the hinterland in the Kashmir Valley in the last two months.

The killed militants, army said, included top Lashkar militants, including a 55-year-old man. The step, the army said, was taken after 10 of their men were killed in an attack in the outskirts of Srinagar in the Hyderpora area on June 24.

"Since the Hyderpora attack, there have been a series of successful operations both on the LoC and in the hinterland area. We have killed 28 terrorists in this period, out of which 18 were eliminated on the LoC and 10 in the hinterland," GOC of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh had told media in Srinagar.

Eight militants were those who were injured and crossed back but died immediately on the other side of the LoC.